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The Research & Innovation Office (RIO) invites faculty new to the university’s creative work, research and scholarly community to join the 2020 Principal Investigator (PI) Academy cohort.

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The PI Academy is designed to orient new faculty to campus research and creative work resources. Through a series a workshops and webinars, tenure-track faculty engage with core research topics, connect with peers from departments across campus, interact with campus leadership, and develop individualized research plans.

Oana Luca, assistant professor of Chemistry and graduate of the program, notes that the workshops are “designed to be an opportunity to learn, ask questions and make connections as you begin building your academic portfolio." These connections are an important part of the program, which has grown to include more than 80 faculty members representing departments spanning the campus.

In addition to forging connections with fellow early career faculty members, participants in the program have used opportunity-specific workshops and webinars to secure internal funding from programs such as the Research & Innovation Seed Grant, and external funding such as the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award.

Program graduates have also secured prestigious awards, such as Boettcher Foundation Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Awards and Hearing Health Foundation Emerging Research grants.

Justin Brumbaugh, a recent graduate of the program and assistant professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology credits the program with “offering crucial guidance that helped [him] to acclimate to the demands placed on junior faculty. In particular, programs focused on budgeting and the grant writing process facilitated [his] efforts to secure external funding.”

A virtual kickoff webinar will welcome new and returning faculty on Tuesday, August 25, from 10–11 a.m. At this webinar, program graduates, current members and faculty interested in joining will have the opportunity to network, ask questions and learn more about the program and upcoming workshops. Those interested in attending the August 25 event should to receive the Zoom link.

Registration for the PI Academy program can be found here.